This Is the Hair Colour You'll See Everywhere In 2017

Not blonde, not brunette.
- byErin Lukas

Mar
2017

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Not quite bombshell blonde, not quite rich brunette, bronde is the happy medium hair colour that will warm up a sad, winter complexion, but won’t look out of place after the ice has melted. Thanks to stars like Gigi Hadid, who’s been fading out her highlights throughout fall, the seasonless shade is going to blow up your social media feeds throughout this year.

The actual shade lives up to its hybrid name. “Bronde hair is in-between brown and blonde. It fuses the two colours creating a sun-kissed end result,” explains Matrix SoColour Celebrity Colourist George Papanikolas. And while indecisiveness is usually considered a vice, it’s exactly why bronde strands’ popularity will continue to grow on and offline. “What makes this [bronde] universally flattering, is that you can adjust the tone to warm or cool depending on your skin tone, and still get the bronde effect,” Papanikolas says.

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While the shade can be universally flattering, if you want to try the Hadid-approved hue before all your friends do, make sure your stylist considers your skin tone at your colouring appointment. “Picking the right shade of bronde will add brightness to the skin and eyes while adding dimension and movement to the hair,” says Allison Rappel, Colourist at Antonio Prieto Salon. “Warm tones will look best with golden, amber, or honey tones, and cooler skin tones will benefit from cool or neutral tones.” Papanikolas notes that a bronde shade works best on those with a natural base colour in the medium to light brown range, but can be made to work on dark blonde or black hair; it will just skew slightly lighter or darker, respectively.

Along with a seasonally-appropriate shade you can rock all year long, bronde requires minimal upkeep between colouring appointments. Papanikolas suggests asking your colourist for more delicate highlights at root that are spaced apart so that you can stretch your salon visits to every three to five months. “Bronde should be low maintenance and only need to be touched up every a few times a year as long as you don’t have greys to cover,” he says. To keep your colour looking salon fresh, Rappel recommends glossing between highlights every six to eight weeks, and using colour-safe shampoo and conditioner at home.